God wrote you a letter

I heard a fellow preacher describe hearing an elderly African American preacher deliver something similar to the following so with a few imaginary flourishes I submit the following.

Over in the little book of First John chapter 2 and down in verse 13 the beloved Apostle says – “I write to you fathers” -- so a I say to all of you fathers, God wrote you a letter. It also says “I write to you young men” – so again I say to you young men – God wrote you a letter. It goes on to say “I write to you little children” – so little children, God wrote you a letter. So I can say to you church – God wrote you a letter.

God sat down at His desk of sovereignty, picked up His pen of omniscience and He wrote you a letter of divine revelation. His ideas are infallible its content is inerrant and its message is immutable. God wrote you a letter. He wrote your letter on paper watermarked with the tears of prophets, He wrote you letter with the indelible ink of His faithfulness, it is written in the script of His holiness it is punctuated with His graciousness and it signed by the blood of Jesus. God wrote you a letter. He placed your letter in an envelope of love, sealed by the kiss of His spirit postmarked by the apostles and delivered by the breath of Almighty God. Church – God wrote you a letter. My friend God wrote you a letter.

So I say to you beloved – you ought to read your mail.

25 things I learned from a walk in the forest

I recently spent an afternoon hiking about 5 miles through one of our state parks. Here are some things you can learn from a walk in the forest.

1. God loves the color green
2. Trees are tall
3. People are not
4. You never see a tree grow
5. Walking face-first into a spider web is always startling
6. Forests have a different cast of birds than my backyard
7. Squirrels are better than any circus acrobat
8. I don’t like snakes
9. Poison Ivy is hard to see
10. Always take your camera
11. A camera cannot capture what the eye can see
12 Chipmunks are noisy
13. Forests soak up both water and sound
14. If a tree falls in the forest…it will always be across the hiking trail
15. I do not understand why people carve their initials into tree trunks
16. Sticks and stones may break my bones…so I try to avoid them
17. I need better hiking shoes
18. Air tastes different in the woods
19. Only God can make a tree it takes an idiot to produce litter
20. Trees are always heading upward…so should I
21. I don’t spend enough time in the forest
22. Forests are wonderful places
23. God makes amazing forests
24. Everything God makes is amazing
25. God is amazing

Blessings,
Jesse Waggoner